Oil in Intercooler/charge pipe ?

[M_Torx]

just did the 135i N55 full bolt on... FMIC/ DP and CP and noticed oil in the intercooler and charge pipe not a ton but more then just a light residue... have heard it might be from carbon build up on the intake valves but also heard the N55 is very good with carbon build up compared to N54 and the car only has 67000km and only drank high octane like 91 or 93.... should we pull off intake and check for carbon at this km or no need? or does it possibly just need a catch can or are the turbo seals maybe going.... or just pull off intake no matter what to see how much carbon ? get a catch can for sure? here is picture of the plugs...

[Edrift]

Some blow by is normal. If it's not dripping with oil I wouldn't worry about it. You could try a catch can.

As for your plugs... They look messed up. Do they smell like fuel? Looks like it's running too rich.

Those aren't OEM plugs so I wonder if they are too cold?

[M_Torx]

thanks for the reply pretty sure they are OEM plugs....say bmw and just to clarify the plugs were from a stock setup as well as the oil found....that amount of oil probably fine then....?they dont smell like fuel or anything really atm but might have evaporated have been sitting out couple days....keep the comments coming would like to hear what others have to say thanks again

[Campose82]

Blow by is definitely a problem we all struggle with and some have learned to live with it. But if youre like me, you cant stand it! I come from n55 currently on an n54. Mishimoto has a really good catch can for the n55 platform and id really recommend it! Doesnt cute the problem completely but definitely takes a good amount of gunk out of the system!

[Edrift]

Ok maybe the plugs are different in the n55 (n54 has 3 spoke tips on the plugs).
Give the plugs a good clean with brake cleaner and sand paper whilst they're out.
They look too black for healthy plugs

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Edrift

...

Those aren't OEM plugs so I wonder if they are too cold?

They say "BMW Bosch" which means they came from BMW. They were probably original given your mileage.


OP what is the part number on the plugs? You can use RealOEM.com to look up the proper plugs.

And yes, N55's N54's use different spark plugs.


Dack

[M_Torx]

yea dack is right they are most likely original plugs probably why they look like that.... but we put in NGK 97506 the shop gapped them for us for FBO

[dtla1]

You can still use the OEM plugs even for FBO (some might even recommend that over NGK plugs).

What someone else mentioned about fuel seems right. Either fuel or oil. You didn't get a chance to take some pictures of the wells did you? Just to check if there might be some oil pulling in there.

[M_Torx]

what you mean by the wells ?

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by AP888

what you mean by the wells ?

Where the spark plugs go.

[bbnks2]

At 42,000 miles the plugs are likely original and due for a change.

The oil residue is fairly normal. A catch-can will help a bit if the oil is from blow-by. Pull the INTAKE piping and check for excessive oil coming from the pcv vent. If the oil is being pushed into the intake from the turbo seals than a catch-can won't help. Either way, N55 does indeed GENERALLY result in MUCH less oil in the intake and therefore much less carbon build-up on the valves. It does depend on how the car has been driven and cared for though.

If you have blue smoke and/or pools of oil in the inter-cooler then you might have a bigger issue to track down.

[M_Torx]

... in the wells there was no oil just some black type dust maybe from around the plug washer that we vacuumed out...not sure what it was but was some type of crusty dust probably normal ?